snackdown! - 3.12.10

this week, the entire food world was fixated on news out of nyc that klee's daniel angerer was making cheese out of his wife's breast milk. it's something that the village voice reported on almost ten days ago, but this week the story really picked up steam, getting national attention & a warning-of-sorts from the board of health. while it's made in a fashion that's similar to most other cheeses, the critics who sampled it thought it was "softer" & "more slippery" than regular cheese. regardless of what the critics thought, there's something about it that gives me the willies. on a related note, klee will be unveiling their spring cheese menu next thursday. breast milk cheese will not be on the menu. for that matter, it never has been, but it sure has created a lot of buzz for klee. luckily, the rest of the week's news wasn't quite so nasty.

• late last week, the FDA announced a recall of a ton of products containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein, a common flavor enhancer. this week, that list of products extended to include two meat-inspired pringles flavors--restaurant cravers cheeseburger & family faves taco night. while i've never tried the cheeseburger flavor, i polished off a tube of the taco night flavor a few weeks back & am happy to report that i didn't die as a result. i'm also happy to report that taco night pringles are strange but amazingly good. after all, they're inspired by tacos. (christian science monitor)


• on another taco-related note, austin's SXSW got under way this week & for attendees, they can rest easy knowing that when they wake up with the worst indie rock & tequila-inspired hangover known to man, they can nurse it with an austin delicacy--the breakfast taco. the ny times notes that "when it comes to breakfast tacos...austin trumps all other american cities." the breakfast taco, which is "inspired by mexico, but not mexican," is basically a tortilla filled with standard breakfast fare such as scrambled eggs, bacon & sausage. some places like torchy's tacos get creative & serve items like "migas tacos, made with a scramble of eggs and strips of fried corn tortillas, pocked with green chilies, capped with avocado slices, enveloped by flour tortillas." the best part? they're not just for breakfast. (ny times)


• with st patrick's day only five days away, it's time to start getting wasted & downing copious amounts of corned beef & cabbage, right? well, not entirely. you should still get wasted but it turns out that corned beef & cabbage, which has become shorthand for "irish food," isn't really an irish dish. in fact, most of the "irish food" you find in america, stuff like irish nachos & reuben egg rolls, has nothing to do with traditional irish fare. the reality is that a lot of traditional irish cuisine is rather bland & the stuff you typically find in irish pubs here in the u.s.--"burgers, chicken wings and pizza"--is often similar to what you'll find in pubs in ireland. there really is no "irish cuisine" to speak of. it's cool with me though. corned beef & cabbage sucks. (chicago sun-times)


• in a week where the producers of the academy award winning documentary the cove busted a restaurant in l.a. for serving endangered whale sushi, serious eats took a look at a more legal (& likely tasty) form of sushi--the sushi pizza. as they reported, a japanese tv show that profiles "wacky 'japanese' food" served at japanese restaurants in america" visited hyde park's edo sushi to try out their sushi pizza. to their surprise, they actually enjoyed the dish, which is made up of "a lightly toasted rice patty" topped with spicy mayo, chopped maguro, green onion & tobiko. sure it's not technically pizza, but it still sounds awesome. (serious eats)


• over the past year or so, nyc's become known for their vibrant food truck scene, but in the midst of all the food truck hype, not enough attention has been paid to another portable food trend that's on the rise--the pop-up restaurant. they're locales where chefs set up shop for a day or evening & hock their creations. since they're hip & trendy & only temporary, there are four lessons that the la times thinks are key to the pop-up experience: don't expect to stumble on a pop-up, expect to wait, stay current on twitter & go at opening time. if you keep those four things in mind, you'll be just fine. if not, they'll be gone before you know it. (la times)

snack away! #7 - free market snackin'.

we at the pursuit cast put on a regular podcast about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. we're neither republican, nor democrat - we just try to do the right thing. we started it because we felt like no one in the regular media expressed a sane viewpoint about politics and philosophy and continue it as a way to get our thoughts out there. we're trying to make friends with like-minded people, not initiate conflict with people who don't feel the same way. so far, it's been successful. if you care to listen and have an open mind - we'd love to have you check out an episode or two. it gives us a chance to share a bit of ourselves outside of our day jobs.

we (frank and mike) over at pursuitcast.com work very hard at our day jobs. that's plural - jobs - we are involved directly in the operations, or oversight, of several companies each. in addition, we both have board seats at a cloud computing and IT cost reduction service and an agronomy project aimed at developing stable economies in places where currency is neither accessible nor viable (names withheld to protect the innocent). we're working out some details in nigeria, india and vietnam as you read this. our work is very fulfilling. however, this pace leaves very little opportunity for leisure time. we're pretty much all grind, all the time.

after you've given us a listen, it's pretty clear that we're those unapologetic free market types...sometimes shockingly so to the innocent bystander. backyard barbecues, should we ever get the chance to attend them, can turn into an episode of family feud pretty quickly. i guess that's part of the reason behind the podcast, so that we may avoid sharing our politics in polite company and just refer them to our link to subscribe. we're real outcasts in that, being of a free market persuasion, we feel that we are justly entitled the fruits of our labor, and that taxes are an intrusion into our liberty. the tax rate is way too high. this, coupled with our schedule, precludes us from doing something we both consider essential to our happiness...drinkin' and snackin'.

it is a common misconception that we free market types only drink essence of bunny rabbit and snack on the delicate and tasty souls of lost and exploited children. however, nothing could be further from the truth. we're real capitalists with morals and values rooted in the golden rule, although we hear that the souls of children are a delicacy at some institutions on wall street. when we're not out on the grind, we like to kick back and have some good conversation over a drink and snack, so without any more jibber-jabber - here's what it's like to snack pursuit cast style...

snack away! #7 - free market snackin'.
guest bloggers: frank speiser/mike perrone (the pursuit cast), new york, ny

snacks: shake shack cheeseburger / nobu next door california roll
drinks: dun bheagan 26-year-old scotch / 1938 macallan / tesseron lot 53
cigars: montecristo D LE 2005 / padron 1964 anniversario series



the pre-game - we don't get this kind of downtime very often, so we're not going to crack open a pabst blue ribbon and crush the empty and comically recyclable can on our chests. actually, mike may do that, but it'd be on someone else's chest, and somehow he'd get away with it. normally, we prefer to transition from sharply-focused capitalists to relaxed family men via the consumption of a good scotch whisky. again, we don't get a lot of time for this, so we're not talking some urine-esque johnny walker red nonsense.

we're going to kick things off with a dun bheagan 26-year-old scotch. it's got a welcoming, nutty and caramel-like flavor that makes you almost forget that someone proposed a bill that would further limit the amount hard work and savings you can pass on to your children...yet again. we drink this either straight or with two ice cubes depending on the weather. it's about this time in the process that we'll probably start talking about some of the funny things our kids do and what we hope to teach them some day. we're now among friends and life is good...then we'll have another, because we can.

the main event - after we've managed to take the edge off, we're in full snack mode. brace yourself.

we're all for job creation, so we're not going to get something off-the-shelf. we're going to hire a courier and each grab a single cheeseburger from the shake shack - and not that johnny-come-lately shake shack uptown in manhattan on 77th and columbus. we're keeping it real with the madison park original. we're also picking up a california roll from nobu next door on franklin and hudson. of course, we tip extra if the food gets back to us at the right temperature. we're going to pair that up with a 1938 macallan that was bottled in 1973. this might give pause to all those connoisseurs out there that think thar be a travesty to drink a scotch from 1938 with a cheeseburger and a sushi roll, and we concede it is irregular. however, it's also time and money we earned so we highly recommend that you kiss our asses.

the tint of fruit and spices is exceptional in the 1938 macallan - especially to two guys who don't swill some half-dewars/half-water concoction at 5:45 p.m. every day. it's a real treat. the apple notes in the macallan (and you really can taste 'em) make for a nice compliment to the burger (apples and burgers go great together) and the spiciness allows you to rotate in a bite of nobu's sushi roll to cleanse the palate. try it, and then don't tell us about it later.

right about now, we're probably talking about how nancy pelosi looks like skeletor, or how "conservative" talk show host mark levin sounds like that angry guy in the grocery store yelling at canned goods. everything seems funnier after three to four glasses of great scotch. we're also glad to remind someone that we employed craftsmen in the culinary and whisky industries--not some mass-production sweatshop--and that we've done our part to lower the price for the next marginal customer who wants to order the same snack by making it easier for the proprietors of these fine establishments to expand, should they choose to do so.

the post game - you should know that when we're snacking (or doing anything), we're not going to half-ass it. you don't just snack and run...not on our watch...so what we're going to do is wrap this thing up with a cigar and a cognac. if you didn't know what you were doing, you might go with the tesseron lot 29 cognac (bottled in 1929). that lot is for suckers. 1929 was the year of the sucker (YOTS) until 2008 came along. the real deal is the tesseron lot 53 (bottled in 1953). the candy complexion and dark fruits of the flavors offer enough depth to compliment the cigars we're sparking up to finish this off.

this next part is where mike and frank differ. we're not going to have the same cigar. that assumption is just impolite...we're not communists, after all. mike's going with the montecristo D LE 2005 for its even draw and the fact that it finishes well. they are mild, creamy cigars that don't pull any surprises on you. frank, on the other hand, is going to get contra with it and go with the padron 1964 anniversario series, live and direct from nicaragua. these are little more potent, but one of these still fits well with the tesseron 53 and the cocoa flavors that kick in after the halfway point are kick-ass, to use the technical term. the flavors shift and morph as you get through the cigar. it's a great way to end the snack session and remind us of why we work so hard at trying to provide real, measurable value. hank rearden's not walking through that door, people.

oh yeah, another thing - neither one of us is going to smoke a cuban cigar. they're overrated flavor-wise and the construction has since been replicated by master cigar makers at both padron and montecristo. besides, the castros can bite us; that semi-colon is for you - fidel.

the conclusion - it's great to know that there are people who take so much pride in their trade and we're happy to buy their unique products. the drinks, snacks and cigar we've chosen come from the work of people who sought to make a unique and different mark on life. their self-determination led them to be able to offer such a unique taste experience that we're willing to spend our money (and thus our own time) to go out of our way and get their products. instead of common, commodity state-issued rations of alcohol and meals, the market provides a way for us to earn some discretionary income and then spend that on some unique products that only the talents of specific people with dedication and drive can bring to the market. we also employed someone who is likely getting a start in this country in picking these products up for us and if they did a good job, we're happy to be able to tip even more. it's a start, but we know that it's just a stepping stone.

if we had just a 1% reduction in our tax burden, we might snack like this once a week. maybe with more claim to our own income we would see more competition for great scotch and burgers and bring the prices down for everyone. sounds like an idea for a future podcast, and with that we're back to work. thanks to mr. pyro for having us on. keep snacking, brother.

frank & mike are big fans of the free market. please catch them on the pursuit cast by subscribing via itunes at: http://tinyurl.com/pursuitcast or visiting podcast.com: http://podcast.com/show/139477/The-Pursuit-Cast/.